A biography of Prince Phetsarath highlights how a specific idea about Laos and its culture

was formed under French colonial rule and nurtured under the Japanese occupation and

its aftermath. During these periods, Phetsarath's understanding of Lao cultural nationalism

was transformed into a political and anticolonial nationalism. While ultimately a

study of failure, Phetsarath's activities show that anticolonial nationalism did not always

have to be linked to Communist movements to be ‘revolutionary', and suggests the importance

of taking into account non-revolutionary and non-Communist actors - even

members of royal blood - in order to better understand the complexity that went into the

making of modern postcolonial states.